NEPAUL.* THE recent death of the Maharajah, or King, of
Nepaul, and the accession to the throne of his youthful grandson, gives peculiar interest to these two volumes, which contain the experiences of a gentleman who resided in an official capacity at Khatrnandu during the thirteen years closing in 1863. Those years were very eventful ones in the history both of British India and of the semi-independent kingdom of Nepaul. In the former the Sepoy Mutiny, and in the latter the growth of Jung Balla- dues power, marked them out as a distinct epoch in the chronicles of both States. But it needs not this special ground of recommendation to justify the statement that the late Dr. Oldfield has provided us with a very complete, accurate, and interesting description of the country ruled by the warlike Goorkhas. Dr. Oldfield includes in his narrative the amplest details, drawn from both personal observation and official reports, of the geography, history, and recent political life of Nepaul, which attained the rank of a single and united kingdom a few years after Clive established the British supremacy in Bengal, on the field of Plessey. We have nothing but unqualified praise for the manner in which Dr. Oldfield's manuscript has been edited and published by his relatives, and the work will form a sufficient monument to the memory of a praiseworthy servant of the Indian Government.
Nepaul extends along the Himalaya for about 500 miles west
of the small State of Sikhim, but its greatest breadth is not more than 140 miles, and this is only attained at one spot. Between this mountain-land and the plains of Oude there lies the thick belt of jungle known as the Terai. The population is computed by natives to reach 5,000,000, but this is certainly an exaggerated estimate. Dr. Oldfield suggests 4,000,000 as nearer the truth ; but even this may be excessive. A Hindoo race, kuown as the Newars, who had been driven from the * Adam from ISTipal. Historical and Descriptive, with Anecdotes of the Court Life and Wild Sports of Me Country in the Tinto of the Maharajah Jung Bahadur, &a. By the late Henry A, Olddeld, MD,, many years Residency Surgeon at KW- manila. 2 vole. With illustrations. London ; W. H. Allen and Oo. 1980,
Plains (luring some of their numerous struggles with the Mahommedans, established their authority in this region during the fourteenth century. The exact date given for this event is A.D. 1322, and from that time until the year 1769, Nepaul, although divided into three States, was virtually sub- ject to the authority of this family of the Newer Kings. Dr.. Oldfield describes the condition of the country and its people at its crisis in modern times in the following passage :—
" The vast tract of forest, and of marshy, maiarious land which skirts, almost uninterruptedly, the southern face of the Himalayas, from Assam, in the far east, almost to the Satiaj, in the north-west, formed an insuperable bar to any regular intercourse between the natives of the Plains and those of the Hills. Thus isolated from con- nection with Hindostan, the Hill Rajahs and their subjects became, as it were, 'a peculiar people.' Absorbed in their own internal affairs —at one time warring with neighbouring chiefs, at another occupied in pastoral pursuits, or in hunting expeditions within their own terri- tories—they knew little and cared less about the political changes and revolutions which were occurring in Bengal. Inhabiting a cool and bracing climate, they were physically far superior to the languid and enervated Bengalees. The virgin purity of their native soil had never been sullied by the foot of foreign invader; they were the only Hindoo States which had not been degraded by Mohammedan conquest."
This indifference was reciprocated by the inhabitants of the Plains, and it was only when the Newar King was threatened in his last strongholds by the chief of the Goorkha clan that he threw aside his hereditary contempt for the people of the lowlands,. and appealed to the British for aid in his emergency. Prithi Narayan, the Goorkha, was one of those vigorous and ambi- tious soldiers of fortune who sometimes seize the opportunity furnished by the decadence of a ruling house to establish a dynasty of their own. By availing himself of the rival preten- sions of the other chiefs and of the misfortunes of the Newer prince, Prithi Narayan succeeded, after encountering many vicissitudes of fortune, in accomplishing his design. In 1767,. when be held final victory in his grasp, the appearance in the- Terai of a small English force, under the command of Captain! Kinloch, disconcerted for the moment his plans. Captain Kinloch! had been sent in compliance with the request of the Newer
prince, but he was compelled to beat a hasty retreat by the' want of provisions. Within the next two years, Pritlii Narayaii: brought the struggle for power to a conclusion, and, established the Goorkha dynasty at Khatraandu. It may be here stated that the origin of the Goorkhas is wrapped in mystery, but they claim descent from the ancient Rajput family of Oodey- pore. To resume this summary of historical events. In 1771, Prithi Narayan, having accomplished his part in ensuring: the greatness of his family, died, leaving two sons to enjoy what he had conquered. There then ensued numberless quarrels, and feuds between members of the royal family, but these did not interfere with the growth of the Goorkhe. power. In 1791 the King of Nepaul invaded the neighbouring country, Tibet,. at the head of a large al-my; but, although so far as the object. of this expedition was plunder it must be considered as suc- cessful, the very next year found him compelled to retire before- an army sent to chastise him by Keen Lung, the great Emperor. of China, who, in his proclamation of war, styled the Nepa.ulese- prince, not inappropriately, "the robber."
The Chinese defeated the Goorkhas in several engagements,. and advanced to Nrtyakot, only twenty miles distant from their. capital. The Goorkhas were glad to purchase a peace by surrendering the crests of the Himalayan Passes, and by acknowledging the ruler of Pekin as their suzerain. For exactly sixty years after this campaign, the relations of the Goorkhas with the Chinese were peaceful. The quinquennial tribute was duly forwarded to Chentu, and a not inconsiderable. trade was carried on with Lhasa and the region to the east of that city. The Tibetans, feeling themselves safe under the pro- tection of the Chinese, assumed an arrogant tone towards the Goorkhas, imprisoned or ill-treated some of their traders and travellers, and to all the protests of the Khatmandu Durbar replied with silent contempt. In the year 1852, therefore, the Goorkha authorities, represented by the late Jung Bahadur, resolved to obtain by force redress for these Wrongs; and they were the more encouraged to undertake the enterprise, because they had persuaded themselves that the Chinese were so fully occupied by the Taiping rebellion and other troubles that they would be unable to come to the assistance ivsetxtenecnesofe preparations Several years were passed in making necessary for this dangerous war, and it WaS not until 1855 that Jung Bahadur found himself ready to commence operations. The Tibetans had made considerable preparations for defend-
ing their territory, and the superiority of their position supplied to some extent their deficiency in military knowledge. And after many months' fighting, the war closed without any de- finite result. Things resumed their normal aspect, and Nepaul still remains among the tribute-paying kingdoms dependent on China. The reply of the Chinese Amban stationed at Lhasa to Jung Bahadur's envoy may, while we are on this por- tion of the subject, be fitly quoted. He said,—
" That it was impossible to cede one inch of territory, as it be- longed to the Emperor of China (having been made over by him to the Lamas for religious and charitable uses, to support the Buddhist monasteries of Tibet), and it was not in the power of the Tibetans to alienate any of it. If the Nopaulese would agree to these terms, and evacuate the Tibetan territory they now occupied, there should be peace ; if not he—the mban—would report all to the Emperor, and bring down a large Chinese army to recover the Tibetan lands, and to invade Nipal, promising—with an oath repeated seven times —that, in such case, be would ravage Nipal, destroy its capital, and, carrying off its Malik, would send him to the Emperor at Pekin, to be presented to the Emperor in his most angry mood."
As might be expected, these volumes contain a very full account of the career of that great and extraordinary man, the late Jung Bahadur, who ruled Nepaul during nearly thirty years with wisdom and resolution. His far-sighted policy was very favourably exhibited during the crisis of the Mutiny, and the Nepardese contingent played a certain part in its suppres- sion. Although supposed to cherish Chauvinist ideas, Jung
Bahadur found a friendly, although reserved, policy towards our- selves to be the most prudent, at the same time that he had to abandon his dreams of conquest beyond the Himalaya. Dr. Oldfield preserves several characteristic observations of this Minister, of which we may quote the two following. He once said that "he knew our power and skill so well, that he was convinced if we
could not make a road over a mountain, we should make a tunnel under it, so that no mountain could stop our progress ; but though the cat cannot tight on even terms with the lion yet if the lion drives him into a corner, the cat will scratch his eyes." And on another occasion,—" I know my nation is not equal to yours, nor our power to yours ; but there is one thing in which we are and ought ever to be equal,—namely,justiCe, mutual justice I" There are many other points of interest in these volumes to which we should have liked to refer, but perhaps enough has been said to show that Dr. Oldfield's sketches have just claims to rank very high among the standard works on the kingdoms of High Asia. They are the more valuable, indeed, because they describe a country which is in the anomalous position of being both an independent kingdom in treaty alliance with our Government, and also a tributary State of the Emperor of China.
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